To the Moon
by CrimsonFireTiger
Summary: Based on the game by Freebird. Sonic and Amy have very unusual jobs. They grant dying wishes using a machine that can alter one's memories. All starts out as usual, but they soon learn that there's something very unusual about Shadow, their newest client, who wants to go to the moon. As they delve into his memories, they find a deeper meaning to his wish. Slight Sonamy, ShadowxOC
1. Chapter 1 Assignment

Chapter 1: Assignment

The moon shone brightly over a tall lighthouse on a cliff by the seaside that had long been abandoned. The sea glimmered in the half-light the night was providing. Nearby, not too far away from the lighthouse, there stood a house settled in the middle of the meadow surrounding the area. Inside this house, there were two Mobian children sitting at the piano playing a soft and beautiful melody. The melody flowed through the large two-story house, its crescendos and arpeggios echoing through the halls and rooms, leaving a somber tone to the whole area.

The peaceful scene was interrupted by the sound of tires squealing as the driver tried to put on the breaks. A loud crash was heard and the two children stopped playing long enough to turn toward the door, wondering just what sort of chaos had happened. Outside, a ways away from the house on the cliff, a car was smashed against an old tree, away from the road. Two hedgehogs warily exited the car, one that was a cobalt color, and another that was a light pink color. Both hedgehogs were wearing lab coats with nameplates over the chest pocket.

The pink hedgehog was fuming, smoothing out her ruffled quills. "Where were you looking, Sonic?!" she choked, still trying to get over the shock of the crash.

Sonic let out a slight huff and crossed his arms. "Well _excuse me_ for heroically evading that squirrel coming out of nowhere!"

The cobalt's companion looked out on the road at the freshly-road-killed squirrel lying flattened in the middle of the road from which they came. "You still hit it, dummy." She said.

Sonic came over to examine the sight that his companion was observing and when he saw the grave sight, his cheeks turned red with embarrassment, and he put his hand behind his head and let out a slight chuckle. "Oh." He said. "Whoops. But you've got to admit, Amy, it was a daring attempt!"

Amy looked back at Sonic and shook her head. "You ran over it _and_ hit a tree." She said mockingly. "Two failures in one night. Nice going, hero."

Sonic laughed and smoothed his azure quills. "Hey, don't even worry about it." He said. "It's a company car, not as if we're gonna get fired for it."

Amy's emerald eyes widened at what Sonic was suggesting. "No, he'll just murder us instead. That's _much_ better than being fired."

Sonic stopped his nervous laughing and inhaled through gritted teeth. "Good point." He said. "Well then, we'll just say that…I…" he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Ah! I got it! We'll just say I was saving a puppy! Yeah, that's it, everyone loves puppies!"

"I'm not sure, but I think he likes cats better." Amy pointed out, not going for any of Sonic's "clever" ideas for getting out of the mess he got himself into.

Sonic sighed, shrugging and looking to the sky in mock hopelessness. "Why does this world have to be so complicated?!" he said. He then jumped back into his care-free mood and patted Amy on the shoulder. "Well, whatever." He said, stretching his arms over his head and yawning. "Whatever fuzz ball he fancies, the crisis is averted."

Amy wasn't getting into Sonic's joking. "Good." She said, turning to examine the damage done to the car. "Go write that on your report when we get back." She looked disapprovingly at the damage done to the front of the car and shook her head, turning back to Sonic the court jester. "Let's just grab the equipment from the car and get going already."

Sonic hadn't heard her; he was too busy looking at the squirrel on the road. "I mean come on!" he muttered to no one in particular. "I crashed the car trying to avoid hitting this thing, what more do you want from me?!"

"Well, you could _not_ crash the car and _not_ hit the squirrel at the same time." Amy said cynically, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

Sonic shook his head. "Now that's asking too much." He said. This earned a slap to the back of the head from Amy. "OW!" he said. "Ok, OK I'm getting the equipment now."

When Sonic got the equipment from the back of the car, he groaned at the weight of the bulky mass of machines. "Geeze!" he said. "Why does this have to be so heavy?!"

The two hedgehogs walked towards the house, up flights of stairs, Sonic muttering and complaining the whole way. Eventually, they came to an area that was sealed off by a boulder.

"Maybe it's their security system?" Sonic suggested light-heartedly.

"Oh for pity sake, we don't have time for this!" Amy said. She took out her Piko-Piko hammer and whacked the boulder to get it out of the way, but upon hitting the boulder, a loud popping sound was heard and the bolder slowly flattened out into nothing. Amy looked at it in amazement. "A beach ball!?" she mused to herself.

"Guess it WAS their security system." Sonic said, earning a death-glare from Amy. "Sorry. Let's get going then." The pair continued their trek up the hill to the house. When they got there, Amy knocked on the door.

Inside, the two children playing the piano heard the knocking and called to someone upstairs. "Mama!" the little rabbit girl said. "They're here!"

An older rabbit descended the stairs and headed for the door as the children scampered off to another room.

Outside, Sonic and Amy waited for the occupant of the house to let them in. "Night shifts, love them or hate them?" Sonic said, trying to break the silence between them.

"You know the answer to that, dummy." Amy said. "And it's gonna be one long night."

"Yeah." Sonic said. "And I doubt they'd have any coffee."

"Shut up." Amy said.

Sonic did as told for a little bit, but just went back to talking. "And the ocean waves will sing sweet lullabies." He continued. "But it's gonna be a nightmare for me." He shuddered as Amy rubbed her temples.

"Don't worry." She said. "They're not going to sing through all of your mindless blabbering."

The door opened and the rabbit stood in the doorway. "Doctor Rose and Doctor Hedgehog I presume?" she said.

"That's us!" Sonic said as the woman let the two in.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice." The woman said. "My name is Vanilla the Rabbit."

As she was saying this, the two children dashed through the house into another room, chasing each other. "And this is my daughter Cream and her friend, Tails." Vanilla continued.

"Are you the patient's daughter?" Amy asked.

"Oh, no." Vanilla said, letting out a light laugh. "I'm just his caretaker. Shadow is kind enough to let us live here since this isn't exactly a nine-to-five job."

"I suppose that this "Shadow" is the one we're here to see?" Amy asked. Vanilla nodded.

"He's upstairs. Please come with me." Without another word, she turned and headed up the stairs. Amy turned to Sonic.

"Grab that equipment and let's get going." She said. Sonic sighed and picked up the bulky case of equipment.

"When my back breaks one day, you're going to be the first one I sue." He muttered. "Ok, let's get up there before I drop this." The pair of doctors ascended the stairs in search of their patient.

When they were gone, Tails peeked around the corner of the door in the next room. "Ok, they're gone!" he said. "Whoever gets there first gets to play the melody!"

Cream and Tails raced to the piano and Tails ended up getting there first. "No fair! You pushed me!"

"I did not!" Tails said.

"Whatever." Cream said. "You just get two silly notes anyways." The two sat on the piano bench and started playing the song they had stopped playing earlier. The melody once again echoed through the house and lightened the mood a little bit. Upstairs, Sonic and Amy stopped for a minute and listened to the tune.

"They're not that bad for kids." Sonic commented. "They're actually pretty good. Wonder where they learned."

The two entered the room in front of them and were greeted by the patient lying unconscious in his bed and a rounded man standing by his side, checking his pulse. Vanilla walked over to them. Are you ready to set up?

"Yes, it'll only just take a minute." Amy said as Sonic set the machinery down, gasping and holding his back. They set up the machine in the room. The machine turned out to be a sort of video game console that one would see in an arcade. A glass screen displayed several algorithms and codes that were confusing for one to understand.

"Are you sure that a normal household outlet will be enough for this?" Vanilla asked.

"Of course." Sonic said. "Don't worry, we're the experts!" This comment earned a huff of disapproval from Amy. Once the machine was plugged in, the lights surged and dimmed as if the machine had blown a fuse in the electrical system. "Crap." Sonic muttered.

In a little bit, the lights came back on as if nothing had happened. Sonic put his hand behind his head and chuckled. "Standard procedures." He said. "This thing just likes keeping us on our toes."

As Sonic set up the machine, Amy turned to the rounded man standing by Shadow's bedside. "I would assume that you are the patient's doctor?" she asked.

"Indeed." The man said. He shook Amy's hand. "Doctor Ivo Robotnik at your service. Please to meet your acquaintance."

"Eh, that name's too long." Sonic said. "Mind if I call you "Eggman", buddy?"

"Actually I do mind." Dr. Robotnik said.

"Eh, don't worry." Sonic said. "You'll learn to love it!"

"You'll have to excuse my colleague." Amy said. "He's extremely childish."

"I've dealt with worse." Dr. Eggman said.

"You don't know him like I do." Amy insisted. She looked at Shadow and then ack at Dr. Eggman. "How is he doing?"

Eggman sighed and pushed his glasses into place. "Not so well." He said. "If I were to say, I think he only has a day or two left."

"That's plenty of time." Amy said.

By this time, Vanilla's curiosity got the better of her. "So, you two can grant him any wish he has, is that right?" she asked.

"Well, we try at least." Amy said.

"But we always succeed because we're SONIC HEROES!" Sonic said cheerfully.

"What did I tell you about saying that?" Amy asked.

"To not say it." Sonic said.

"And how many times have I said it?"

"Too many."

"Then I must be serious, right?"

Sonic shrugged. "Eh, I can never tell." He said jokingly.

Amy sighed and turned back to Vanilla. "So, what's the wish?" she asked.

Vanilla didn't say anything for a minute but then spoke. "The moon." She said simply. "He wants to go to the moon."

Sonic chuckled. "The geezers just keep on getting crazier, huh?" he said.

"Sonic! Show some respect!" Amy said.

"So, can you do it?" Vanilla asked.

"It depends." Amy said.

"On what?" Vanilla asked a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"She meant to say "yes", that's all." Sonic said. "She just likes to mess with people that way."

Amy rolled her eyes and turned back to Vanilla. "Why don't you tell us about our client?" she said.

Vanilla bit her lip and played with her apron. "To be honest, I don't really know that much…" she admitted. "Shadow's a little odd. Through the two years that I've worked here, he's rarely spoken at all. He worked as a craftsman for most of his life, and his wife passed away before I started working for him. I don't really know many details. But, I suppose if you look around the house, you may find some more information about him. I don't think Shadow would mind since he signed for you two."

"Alright." Amy said. She turned to Sonic. "So, which one of us is going to go look around?"

"I'll do it!" Sonic said excitedly. "I love playing detective!" he stood up and headed for the door. "Just configure this, I've already got it started."

Amy sat down at Sonic's place at the machine as Vanilla spoke. "Cream and Tails can show you around. They're probably downstairs at the piano." Sonic nodded and exited the room.

"Wait, come back for a moment." Dr. Eggman said. "I have something for you. It's a heart monitor. It'll keep you updated on Shadow's condition." The doctor gave Sonic the small pager-like device.

"Sure hope there's no self-destruct button on it." Sonic said. "Somehow I always have a knack of finding those things."

"With your luck, you'll kill him before we can even start." Amy muttered. Sonic shrugged and exited the room and headed downstairs to find out a little about his patient before the grand adventure started.


	2. Chapter 2 Exploration

Chapter 2: Exploration

Sonic went down the stairs and found Cream and Tails playing away at the piano. Cream looked over at the azure hedgehog and smiled sweetly. "Hello, Mr. Hedgehog." She said. "Can we help you?"

"Your mom said that you know this place pretty well. Mind giving me a tour?" Sonic asked politely.

"Of course!" Tails said. "Follow us!" Tails and Cream hopped up from the piano bench.

"So, where should we start?" Sonic asked, following the kids.

"Well there's this room in the basement." Tails said. "It's kind of creepy, though."

"I don't like that room, Tails." Cream said. "It's too scary!"

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked, his curiosity sparked.

"You'll see soon enough!" Tails said, leading the way. "It's weird though!"

"But Tails, Mister Shadow hid the keys, remember?" Cream said. "If we want to go down in there, we have to get the keys first. I think Mister Shadow hid the keys in a book in the study."

"Ok, then!" Sonic said. "Let's get to searching!"

The children led Sonic to the study and showed him which book the key was hidden in. Sonic took the book and examined it. The book was called "Twilight".

"Now I see why he hid the key in here." Sonic said. "No one would _dare_ look in here for a key."

He took the key and he and the children went down to the basement and the so called, spooky room there. Sonic turned on the lights and went over to the room. He went inside and turned on a light. As soon as the light was on, he was greeted by many paper rabbits strewn all around the floor. A toy platypus was sitting on a box and the atmosphere all around was very creepy.

"Yikes!" Sonic muttered. "I think this guy went a little cookoo before he got sick." He examined the platypus and then decided that it might be useful somehow, so he took it with him. He backed out of the room slowly and closed the door, making sure to lock it so that nothing would come jumping out of the room once he turned his back on it. The kids were waiting outside anxiously.

"Did you see it?!" Cream said. "It's creepy, huh?"

Sonic didn't answer her; he just looked at them suspiciously. "What exactly do you kids know about those rabbits?"

"Nothing!" Tails said. "That's why it's so creepy! The guy didn't want anyone going in there so we didn't tell him about it!"

"There are more of them actually." Cream said.

"Where?" Sonic inquired.

"At the abandoned lighthouse!" Tails said. "It's just beneath this cliff!" There was a brief silence as Sonic mulled this over in his head. "Wanna go see?" I've got the keys!"

"Let me guess." Sonic said. "You aren't supposed to go in there either." Tails shook his head, not seeming to worry about it. Sonic sighed and shrugged. "Ok, we'll go." He said. "But you kids have got to stay close to me, ok?" The two youngsters nodded and they headed upstairs. "_Note to self:_" Sonic thought. "_Never keep any locked cabinets around those two._"

The trio exited the house and traveled south towards the abandoned lighthouse. Sonic kept his eyes open for any hidden dangers that might jump out at them. They crossed over the bridge and went down to where the fake boulder was. Suddenly, Tails gasped.

"OH NO!" he cried. "My novelty beach ball! Someone's popped it!" Sonic clenched his teeth, remembering how Amy had busted it with her hammer. "It's the best novelty beach ball I've ever had! Oh, who could've been so cruel?!" Tails dropped to his knees and flung curses to the sky, holding the remnants of the deflated beach ball in his hands. "WHO?! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"

"_Uh oh._" Sonic thought. "_We're screwed if I don't think of something._" He got an idea. "Don't worry about it!" He said. "Dr. Rose will get you another one."

"Really?" Tails sniffed.

"Yeah! Don't even worry about it!" Sonic said, knowing that Amy was going to give him a hard time about setting her up for this. The gang continued on their way and eventually came upon the crashed company car.

"Sheesh!" Tails said, examining the wreck. "What dummy crashed this car?"

"Uhh…" Sonic stammered. "It was…Dr. Rose! Yeah, that silly goose can't drive very well, I shouldn't have let her drive." He put on a hopeless face. "Alas, such a mistake cannot be taken back. Ah well, live and learn."

"That sounds like it could make a nice song!" Cream said as they continued on their way. Suddenly, something caught her eye. "OOH!" She squealed, pointing to a log. "A squirrel! Let's go pet it!" Sonic did a face-palm as the kids scampered towards the log.

"I don't think we have time for this." He said. The kids were kind of annoying, but in a cute way that didn't bother him that much. He walked over to make sure the kids wouldn't get hurt, but once he accidentally kicked the log, the squirrel woke up and snarled at them. Both the squirrel and Sonic faced off in an epic battle to the death!

"Don't worry kids, I got this!" Sonic said, getting into a battle stance. Tails and Cream turned to each other and shrugged, puzzled about Sonic's weird behavior.

"THIS ENDS HERE!" Sonic said, preparing a tornado attack. "DIE FOUL BEAST!"

"Stop it!" Cream said. "This is animal abuse! I'll tell Mama!"

Sonic turned to the kids with a silly smile on his face. "Oh come on, I wasn't really gonna attack it!" he said. "Sheesh, kids these days. You can't have any fun with them."

The troop continued on their way until they finally got to the lighthouse. The ominously tall structure loomed over our heroes as Sonic unlocked the lighthouse.

"Hey!" Cream said. "What's that over there?" Sonic turned to see what looked like a tombstone a little ways away from the lighthouse. Sonic carefully approached the tombstone and read the inscription on it.

"In memory of Kira D. Tiger." He read aloud. "Wonder who that is…"

"I think she was Mr. Shadow's wife." Cream mused. "At least that's what Mama says. I actually don't know who she is."

"Come on!" Tails said. "The lighthouse is right over here! Let's go!" the children ran into the lighthouse, Sonic trying to keep up with them as they climbed up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse. It wasn't as hard getting up the lighthouse as Sonic had thought it would be, and eventually they reached the top.

"This is it!" Cream said.

Sonic looked around at the interior of the lighthouse and saw more paper rabbits strewn all over the floor and around all of the surfaces. The light itself looked like it hadn't been functioning for years, maybe even decades. Sonic's eyes caught on to one specific rabbit on a box in the corner. He walked over to it cautiously and picked it up, examining it. The rabbit had a red head and red feet and a yellow body. It was quite a peculiar piece, and as Sonic examined it carefully, he caught a glimpse of a heart drawn behind one of the rabbit's ears.

"This wasn't here when we came last week!" Cream exclaimed. "It must've been one Mister Shadow made before he got sick!"

"Am I the only one who's a little freaked out by these?" Sonic inquired, eyeing the paper rabbit suspiciously.

"No." Cream said.

"Yeah." Tails said, elbowing her in the side. "These things are harmless. What could they possibly do to us?"

"Kid, you just might find out that those could be famous last words." Sonic muttered, setting the rabbit down.

Just then, his cell phone rang, and Sonic answered it. "Yellow?" he said.

"The machine's ready." Amy said. "Where are you? Quit screwing around and let's get started!"

"Alright, alright, we're on our way." Sonic said. He hung the phone up and turned to Tails and Cream. "Let's head back or else Dr. Rose is going to chew me out."

Tails and Cream walked down the stairs as Sonic looked back at the paper rabbit. "Might as well take it with." He said, tucking it in the pocket of his lab coat. "It might be useful once we start this thing." With that, he descended down the stairs and headed back to the house where his client was waiting to experience his life wish.


	3. Chapter 3 Down Memory Lane

Chapter 3: Down Memory Lane

Sonic entered the bedroom where Amy was waiting for him. "What on Mobius were you doing?!" she said. "I've been waiting for you for a while now. You know that time is of the essence, right?"

"Sorry." Sonic said, mentally mocking the pink hedgehog. "I was just burning some ants with a magnifying glass."

"With moonlight? Really?!" Amy said cynically.

"Fine, I was taking a nap." Sonic said, shrugging. "Yeesh, it's hard to be a smartass nowadays."

"You've been doing good so far." Amy said, turning to the machine."Your helmet's on the couch. Put it on, and let's get this started already."

Sonic looked to his client, who also was wearing the same helmet as Amy had put on.

"Go on." Dr. Eggman said. "I'll watch over his physical condition during the procedure. Sonic nodded and was about to put his own helmet on when Vanilla spoke up.

"I'm sorry to waste so much time, but I'm curious." She said. "How does it work? Do you just write him another life like a book or do you change his memories altogether?"

"No, not quite like that." Sonic said. "I'm not much for writing books."

"Or even reading them." Amy added. "He'll read it only if it has pictures in it."

"Hey, graphic novels are very good sources of literature!" Sonic protested.

Amy shook her head and put her hand to her head, knowing that this was going to be a long night. "We can't just write out an entire life manually. There's way too many dimensions for us to do that." She explained. "It's mainly the machine that does the doing."

"Naturally, since we aren't paid _nearly_ enough for us to get our hands dirty." Sonic said jokingly.

"_Anyways_," Amy said. "In a nutshell, our job is to travel through his memories to as early as possible, where the desire once started to take form. When we find the point where the desire started, we would then transfer his registered desire of going to the moon to the reconstruction of the world and himself at that early state."

"And with the help of a wiki of data and his own ideas, the machine would then simulate a re-run of his life." Sonic said. "Except this time, he'll have the motivation of his registered desire with him all his life."

"So you'd be depending on him fulfilling his own wish by simply having the desire to?" Vanilla asked. "That seems like it'll be a little too risky. Wouldn't he find something else down the road that would catch his attention and then move on to that desire as one normally would? Doesn't one usually have ambitions but never accomplish them?"

"That's only because in the real world, ambitions fluctuate and fade." Amy explained. "People start things with a passion, but eventually they lose that initial drive and slow down. But if you locked onto that initial push through your _entire life_ never wavering, then it's more powerful than it seems."

"That being said, no ambition's gonna help a dead man. We'd better get started."

"Oh, yes of course." Vanilla said, almost embarrassed that she had asked the question and had wasted the doctors' time. "Sorry."

Sonic got his helmet and put it on, sitting down on the couch. "_Kchh!_ This is Mission Control to Rosy Doctor, are we ready to initiate, over? _Kchh!_" He said.

"You are such a child." Amy said, turning the machine on.

"I know, but you know you love it." Sonic said. "Let's do it to it!"

Amy pressed a few keys on the machine and sat back in her chair as lights on the doctor's helmets lit up. Within a few seconds, the light on Shadow's helmet turned on as well, and in that moment, their minds were synched.

There was darkness for a moment, and then everything faded to white, and soon, the bedroom came into view, although this time, it was empty, and it was daytime outside. Sonic and Amy appeared in the room.

"This should be the last accessible memory of Shadow's." Amy said. "Disable speech for all except Shadow."

Sonic concentrated hard and soon a mechanical beep was heard. "Done." He said. "Now let's go find him."

The pair exited the house and looked for Shadow around the area. Eventually, they found Shadow and saw him sitting on the bench by the cliff with Vanilla standing next to him.

Amy approached him and cleared her throat. "Shadow?" she inquired. The black and red hedgehog turned towards the intruder, showing a sort of half-smile.

"Huh. What a pleasant surprise." He said. "We don't get many visitors here."

"My name is Dr. Amy Rose, and this is my colleague, Dr. Sonic the Hedgehog. Are you familiar with the Mobian Agency of Life Generation?"

Shadow thought for a minute and then nodded. "You two are from the agency then?" he asked. "Well, that's a bit of a coincidence. I was just wondering whether I should to call you."

He turned to Vanilla, who was standing as still as a statue. "Vanilla would you get us some tea?" he asked. Of course, Vanilla didn't respond. "Vanilla?" Shadow asked, waving his hand in front of her face."

"Actually, you've already called us." Sonic explained, removing Vanilla from the memory. Shadow jumped back in surprise and looked at the two doctors in shock.

"Don't be alarmed." Amy said. "We're here to fulfill our contract from the relative future."

Shadow stepped away from them, nearing the edge of the cliff. "Careful." Sonic said. "If you fall off the cliff, we'll have to reload the memory and do this all over again."

"**_Will you show some respect?!_**" Amy said to Sonic telepathically.

"**_It's just a program, it's not as if he'd remember it._**" Sonic shot back.

"**_Yes, but this is his last accessible memory, and we need its co-operation._****" **Amy pointed out.** "****_Unless, of course you want to waste what little time we have left getting past this point._**"

Shadow looked at the pair thoughtfully as their silent bantering continued. "You…" he started. "You're here to take me to the moon, right?"

"Yes, Shadow." Amy said.

Shadow knew what this meant and turned toward the ocean, sighing. "I guess I had a good run." He mused. He snapped out of his silent revelry and turned back to Amy and Sonic. "So, can you do it?" he asked. "Are you able to take me to the moon?"

Amy shook her head. "We can't, but _you_ might be able to." She said.

"Why do you want to go there in the first place?" Sonic asked.

Shadow thought for a minute before answering. "I…I don't know." He said.

"It's fine, you can tell us. It's essential for helping us to get you to the moon." Amy said. "You have to have some motive in order to have the desire to go to the moon."

Shadow shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I really don't know. I'd tell you if I did know, but I don't." he insisted. "I just…do."

"**_I can already tell that this is gonna be a pain in the ass._**" Sonic told Amy.

Amy ignored the cobalt pincushion and went on. "Either way, Shadow, here's what we'll do," she said. "We'll go to your childhood and find the source of your desire there. However, it's too distant to do so in one memory hop, so we'll need to travel through your memories with gradual backward leaps."

"Which you've given us the permission to do in the relative future." Sonic added so as to avert any conflict.

"Once we lay down the waypoints in your childhood memories for direct access, we will return here." Amy continued. "That's when you'll need to help us influence the childhood you to become an astronaut."

"Or to get on a giant catapult." Sonic added, not letting his humorous side rest. Amy shot him a sharp look and then turned back to Shadow.

"The point is, you'll need to have more to say than just "I don't know", and then we'll be able to help you." Amy said.

"As long as you can take me to the moon, I will cooperate in any way that I can." Shadow said. "But what about my privacy?"

"We'll try not to violate what we can avoid." Amy assured him. "But we're not making any promises. Now, in order to leap to a memory, we need an item that is of importance to you. Do you have a memento of some sort to get us started?"

Shadow thought for a minute, then turned to the bench he had been sitting on and took an item from it, then gave it to Amy. "Is this alright?" he asked. The item was the same red and yellow rabbit that Sonic had found in the lighthouse with Tails and Cream earlier.

"That'll do." Amy said. "Shall we get started?"

"Ladies first." Sonic said, bowing to Amy and extending his arm to the paper rabbit. Amy concentrated energy from the machine and prepared the memento for transportation. When it was ready, Amy activated it, and in a flash of light, they were gone.

The next memory was of Shadow sitting at the piano a few days before, the rabbits scattered around the ground, playing a song. The toy platypus that Sonic had seen in the basement was sitting on the top of the piano. Amy made it so that she and Sonic couldn't be seen or heard so that the scene would not be interrupted by things that weren't supposed to be there. Sonic looked around and took the scene in.

"Geez." He said. "I forgot to ask about the rabbits. Now I'm sorry I didn't. Something tells me that we should've checked his record for psychopathy first."

Suddenly Shadow stopped playing and sat there on the piano bench. Sonic looked at him, a drop of sweat forming on his brow. "Please tell me that he didn't hear me!" he said.

"No, dummy." Amy said. "This is probably just part of the memory."

Shadow sat there for a little while longer and then growled and slammed his fists on the keys of the piano, resting his head on his arms in frustration.

"Then I rest my case." Sonic continued.

"Come on, we need to find some sort of memento to hop from." Amy said. The pair looked around the scene for a while.

They went upstairs and warped to another part of the memory, where Shadow was standing in the bedroom looking out the window, his face expressionless. The scene changed again and Shadow wasn't there anymore, and in his place was a worn-out backpack. Sonic examined the sack. "What is this, a million years old?" he joked.

"Guess we'll find out now won't we?" Amy said, looking around for other things that could be a memento. Along the way, they saw fresh flowers of a pure blue color, a glass bottle of pickled olives, to which Sonic made clear his distaste of, a copy of "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson, and a clock, which strangely seemed to be operational, but wasn't making a sound.

Finally, they approached an umbrella and received a signal from the machine that this was the memento that would allow them to go further back into Shadow's memories. Sonic put the heels of his hand together and cried out "HADOOUUUKEN!"

The barrier around the memory was broken and Sonic turned around, a smile on his face. "What the hell was that?!" Amy asked, tapping her food impatiently.

"What?" Sonic asked, shrugging as if he had no idea why Amy was so irritated.

"That's it." Amy said. "I'm doing the breaking from now on."

"Whatever." Sonic said. "Are you coming or what?"

Amy activated the memo and the two yet again travelled back in time. The scene changed to a rainy day and the hedgehog pair saw Shadow kneeling by the tombstone that Sonic had seen outside the lighthouse. He was holding the umbrella, the stuffed platypus perched beside him.

"When it comes to rain, "through" is better than "onto"." Sonic said, glad that he didn't have to get wet.

Amy ignored him. "It seems like these memory hops only span a short period of time…" she said. "At this rate, we're not going to get anywhere. We have to find a leaping memento or else we're going to run out of time before we can get anywhere."

"Why not enjoy the scenery?" Sonic asked, looking out towards the horizon. Amy shook her head and approached the tombstone and read it.

"In memory of Kira D. Tiger." She read. "Who's that?"

"If I remember correctly, she's Shadow's wife." Sonic said. "Or at least, that's what the kids said, but they weren't sure either." Amy shrugged and Sonic entered the lighthouse. Amy went to follow him, but stopped when she heard Shadow talking to the tombstone.

"It's finished, Kira." He said softly. "I'll be able to watch over her everyday like you wanted to…she won't be alone anymore." He looked to the lighthouse and sighed. "I might never understand why, but I stayed true to your wish…I'm sure Anya is grateful to you, too…but when I'm gone…who'll watch over _us_?"

Amy looked at Shadow and felt a pang in her heart. She had to talk to him, regardless of how messy it would get. She made herself visible to Shadow and approached him. Shadow looked up at the rose-colored hedgehog. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice empty of any emotion.

"My name is Amy." She said. "I was just…passing by. Was she your wife?"

Shadow nodded and looked back down at the tombstone. "Her name was Kira." He said. "It means "light" in Persian, and she was just that to me…"

"You must've loved her very much." Amy said comfortingly.

Shadow nodded again, and there was a brief silence before he spoke, softly, almost in a whisper. "It didn't need to happen." He said.

"What do you mean? That she didn't have to die?"

Shadow looked back up at Amy and sighed. "You wouldn't understand." He said. "_I_ don't even understand…"

Amy nodded and stepped back, making herself invisible again. Shadow didn't seem to notice as she entered the lighthouse. Thunder rumbled as she ascended the steps to the top of the lighthouse where she met Sonic.

"About time you got here." Sonic said. "I almost thought you fell off the cliff. What were you doing?"

Amy put her hands in her pockets. "You told me to enjoy the scenery, right?" she said. "Any luck here?"

"Big luck, huge, DINOSAURIC!" Sonic said.

"Really?" Amy asked. "This place looks pretty empty.

"It's a lighthouse, what do you expect? A marketplace?" Sonic said. Amy didn't answer as Sonic approached the memento. "I've broken the barrier already. Let's go." Amy nodded and momentarily turned back to the window where outside and below, Shadow mourned the loss of his beloved. She shook the thought out of her head and the two went to another memory.


	4. Chapter 4 Kira

Chapter 4: Kira

The scene faded back to the bedroom where Shadow stood by the bedside. However, unlike the last time, he wasn't alone. A woman lay in the bed resting. She had black and red hair, and was a purple tiger with black stripes. She had a flame-shape mark on her head and a scar over her right eye.

"Just enough." Shadow was saying to the woman. "After we pay for your operation, we'll have just enough left for it, so don't you worry about a thing."

The woman rolled over on her back and sighed, shaking her head. "White lie." She said simply.

"Huh?" Shadow said. "What do you mean?"

"A white lie. That's what you call it, right?"

"No, no darling." Shadow insisted. "I'm sure we can just-"

"Stop it." The woman said sharply, instantly shutting Shadow up. "You know I don't like it when you lie. I also did some of the "math" you supposedly did, and I know that you're lying." She rolled over so that her back was to Shadow. "Why do you try to convince me against my will?"

Shadow snapped. "We need the money for your medical bills, Kira!" he said. "There's nothing else to it!" There was a moment of silence and Shadow sighed. "I understand that Anya means a lot to you, but this…this is just too much. I mean, she-…she isn't even—"

"Shadow?" Kira interrupted him. "Do you know what makes me happy? Do you?" Shadow didn't answer, trying to avoid some trap she might be setting for him. "Well, I do." Kira continued. "I just…hope you can help me with it."

Shadow put his hand on Kira's shoulder. "Kira-san…" he said. "Don't do this."

Kira rolled over to look at Shadow and sighed. "When the papers for my treatments get here, I won't sign them." She said. "What you do with our money is up to you, but I hope that you would use it to grant my wish, I want you to finish building the house." She put her hand on Shadow's cheek. "And then, for every day that you live there, I want you to watch over her. Visit her, speak to her, comfort her…do it for me? I don't want her to be alone anymore…"

She closed her eyes and Shadow put his hand on hers. "And what about you?" he asked. "You know that I'm nothing without you."

Kira was silent for a minute or two, and then she smiled. "Everything will be alright." She said. "Trust me."

Shadow looked away from her for a minute, and then turned back to her, resting his head on hers. "If it is your will, my princess." He said softly, kissing her forehead. The two were frozen in that moment, until Kira pulled something out.

"I made this for you." She said, giving it to Shadow. The ebony and crimson hedgehog studied it for a minute, and Sonic recognized it as the red and yellow rabbit he and Amy had periodically seen through their jumps.

"It's nice." Shadow said.

"Tell me what it is." Kira said. Shadow looked at her as if he hadn't understood what she was asking of him. Kira saw his reaction and giggled. "Humor me. Tell me what it is." She said.

Shadow looked back at the craft and shrugged. "It's a rabbit, like all the others you made." He said.

"What else?" Kira asked.

"Um, it's made of paper."

"What else?"

"Uh…it's body's yellow and the rest of it is red."

"Good. What else?"

Shadow didn't say anything, struggling to find anything else about the piece of art. Finally, he put it down. "Look, Kira." He said, changing the subject. "I made a song for you." Kira's ears perked up at these words, and nodded. There was a brief silence before Shadow spoke again. "Would you like to hear it?" he prodded.

"Yes please." Kira said, sitting up to hear the song. Shadow walked over to the piano that he had somehow gotten up the stairs into the bedroom. "You know, you didn't have to bring the piano in here for this." Kira added. "I can just as easily hear it with the door open from downstairs."

"I know." Shadow said, sitting down at the piano. "But I feel that this way, it's more special."

"What's the song called?" Kira asked.

"It's called 'For Kira'." Shadow said, giving her a smile.

Kira giggled and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Why so cliché?" she asked. Shadow didn't answer her as he begun to play.

Sonic recognized that the song sounded a lot like the song that Tails and Cream were playing when he and Amy had arrived. "He must've taught it to the kids…" he reasoned. As the melody swelled through the room, Sonic walked over to Amy.

"Who's this "Anya" they keep talking about?" Amy asked. "If she's so important, shouldn't we have seen her in his late memories?"

Sonic shrugged. "I guess he didn't keep that promise after all…" he said.

Amy shook her head. "No…you didn't see him earlier like I did…" she said. "I'm sure he kept that promise…but this doesn't seem to make sense…unless…" she looked out the window with a blank stare.

"Unless what?" Sonic asked.

"Never mind…it sounds silly." Amy said, turning back towards the piano and the musician playing it. For a while, no one spoke, and finally, Sonic broke the silence.

"You know, I'm too manly for all of this fluff." He said. "Do you want to catch a quick ride to the next memory, or do you want to stay and look around?"

Amy looked at Kira and Shadow for a minute, and then turned to Sonic. "Let's go." She said. The pair activated the memory and advanced towards the next memory.

The scene changed back to the cliff where the lighthouse stood nearby. The two doctors turned around and walked to where the house should've stood, but were greeted by the sight of _half_ the house. Shadow sat at the front door, appearing to be resting from his work building the house.

"Huh." Sonic said. "I guess they saw this cliff, and thought it wasn't dangerous enough without people living on it."

"Hush, you." Amy said, trying to pay close attention to the scene in front of her. Shadow was holding his head in his hands, as if he were trying to figure something out.

A white bat came into the scene and sat down next to Shadow. "Hey." She said. Shadow didn't respond, too lost in his thoughts. "I brought you a treat from Knuckles and myself." She pulled out a jar of pickled olives and set them down next to Shadow.

"Thank you, Rouge." Shadow muttered.

The two sat there for a while. "Knuckles said I should see you." Rouge said. "I heard about Kira. How is she?"

"Her illness was just diagnosed in its late stage." Shadow said. "Fortunately, it's treatable." He sighed and smoothed his quills. "But the medical bills….it's just too much. If we go through with the operation, we can't afford to finish building the house. I mean, we can _barely_ afford the operation. I'm just relieved that she'll be ok, but…"

"But you know she wants the house done." Rouge finished. Shadow nodded. "Look, I know how much this place means to her…" Rouge continued. "And something tells me that if she finds out, she won't like it very much. She'd be heartbroken."

Shadow looked at her, a glimmer of determination in his eyes. "Well, she's not going to find out." He said, standing up. "I'm going to tell her that everything's going to be ok, that we'll make it."

"She doesn't like it when you lie to her." Rouge pointed out.

"I know." Shadow said. "But I don't want her to do anything crazy."

"So what?" Rouge said. "If she wants to give up saving herself for this place, then so be it! It's what she wants, and it'll make her happy, right?" Shadow looked at her and then turned away. "You know, I really hate it when people think that they know what's best for others." Rouge fumed, standing to leave.

"Do you think this is all about her?!" Shadow snapped. "What about me?! After all these years, you're telling me that I'm not allowed to be selfish even once?" he leaned against the frame of the house and held his head. "I don't want to be alone, Rouge…I can't be alone…you know how bad I was when I _was_ alone, and I don't want to go back to being that way…I'm not going to let her die."

"You're being an arrogant bastard right now, Shadow." Rouge said.

"I don't care." Shadow growled, crossing his arms.

Rouge and Shadow stood off against each other until finally Rouge sighed. "Fine." She said. "Do what you want. I won't stop you." She started to leave and then stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot." She said. She pulled a small music box out of her purse and wound it up. A soft song started playing. "Knuckles wanted me to give it to you." She said. "He said the song's called "Everything's Alright"."

Shadow looked at the music box and then turned around, fists clenched. "Well, it's not." He said, walking away.

Rouge sighed and shook her head. "I hope that everything turns out alright for you, Shadow." She said softly, leaving the area. She left the music box on one of the work benches outside the house, its melody fading away into the night.

Amy sighed. "Well," she said. "That was quite a heavy conversation."

"True 'dat." Sonic said, walking to the pickled olives. "Shall we go?"

Amy nodded and activated the memento, and the two jumped forward to the next memory, the melody of the music box imprinted on Amy's mind.

**Thanks a lot for your support, I'll try to have a chapter uploaded every day! Thanks for your reviews, and keep them coming!**


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